


The Path of Pangur Bán

by amandaterasu



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24551242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandaterasu/pseuds/amandaterasu
Summary: Daney Van Essen has started to notice strange white paw prints every time she steps outside. What could they mean?This fic is set in the same "universe" as my other FFVII fics: Public Relations and A Measure of Control.
Relationships: Reeve Tuesti/Original Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	The Path of Pangur Bán

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday present for a good friend of mine, @astralplanesies on Twitter! Daney is her character, I'm just borrowing her.

Daney Van Essen was convinced she was going crazy. 

The first time she saw one of the white paw prints had been in the street outside of her apartment complex. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time - Reeve had driven her home from work and she only saw it because it seemed freshly painted, so vibrant against the dark asphalt. So she brushed that one off.

The second was more irritating, scribbled in chalk on the left front-wheel of her car. It took her a good ten minutes to manage to get it off. After she did, she resolved to figure out what kids were doing this and tell their parents to not vandalize people’s property. Streets were fine, she didn’t care (though she’d never tell Reeve that, or he’d go into a long-winded rant about driver distractions and traffic calming strategies in an urban setting), but private property was another matter.

The third was when she began to suspect something was going on. Tucked into her cramped little office with a stack of paperwork to file, she decided to engage in her usual procrastination and pretend to read the weekly company memo while actually looking at memes on her cell phone. But when she opened the memo, there was a white paw print in the top right corner, just below the Shinra Company logo.

She immediately began texting her boyfriend.

**Daney:** Daney is problemed.

**Reeve:** What’s the problem? How can I help?

**Daney:** I’m definitely crazy.

**Reeve:** I could have told you that. You’re in love with me, aren’t you?

**Daney:** DO NOT! It is not crazy to love you. It is crazy to see little white paw prints everywhere.

**Reeve:** Paw Prints?

**Daney:** Yeah!!!! The street, on my car, then on the memo!!!!!!!

**Reeve:** There’s a paw print on the memo? What memo?

**Daney:** The Weekly Shinra Memo.

**Reeve:** You read those things? Nerd.

**Daney:** Like you have room to talk, Furry.

**Reeve:** Touché. Let me pull it up and take a look.

**Daney:** Thank you.

She waited a few minutes for his response, scrolling up through their messages to remind herself of good and happy things they’d shared, only to blush profusely when she accidentally stumbled upon a nude photo he’d sent at her request. She quickly scrolled back down.

**Reeve:** Huh. I have no idea what it is, but I know that we do sell ad space in the memo to local businesses. Sounds like something you should ask your friend.

**Daney:** Yeah. Are you still going to her birthday party later this week? I already got the day off.

**Reeve:** Of course. I told you I’d come with you, and I am not going to subject you to the Vice President and his cronies without an escort.

**Daney:** Thank you. I should get back to work.

**Reeve:** Before you do - do you want to stay over at my place tonight? I’m working on some of the changes you suggested for Cait Sith and I’d like to get your input.

The blush Daney thought she’d been able to force away came back with a vengeance. She knew what _“staying over”_ at Reeve’s penthouse usually entailed: a tiny bit of work, a little bit of dinner, and then a _lot_ of sex. Not to say that’s all their relationship was built on. It was more talking than anything else, but recently he had been more _attached._

Not that she was complaining.

**Daney:** Sure. I just need to swing by my place to grab a change of clothes on the way.

* * *

Reeve chewed his lower lip in concentration as he carefully attached the tiny crown over the antenna array on Cait Sith’s head while Daney applied lubrication to the delicate joints of his disassembled left arm.

“I don’t know why you insist on a crown,” she said, wiping a drip off the edge of the oil canister she was using. “You could cover the array with a hat instead, and it wouldn’t be so finicky.”

“He’s the King of the Cats,” Reeve argued. “He needs a crown.”

“What?” she laughed. “The King of the Cats?”

He looked up from his work, a bemused smile on his face. “Haven’t you ever heard the story of the Cait Sith, the King of the Cats?”

“N-no,” she said, grinning at his foolishness. Reeve loved to tell stories like this, and it made her feel warm when he did. “Tell it to me while we work?”

His smile broadened. “Once, long ago, a man came home from work to his beautiful wife, who was in the kitchen making dinner. 

“‘My dear, you won’t believe what I’ve seen!’ he exclaimed. “As I was on my way home I saw no less than nine black cats, with big white spots on their chests carrying a crowned coffin!’” Reeve winked at Daney and tapped Cait Sith’s large white underbelly.

“As the man spoke, he noticed their cat, Old Tom, watching him closely, his eyes wide as saucers. ‘My dear,’ he said. ‘Have you fed Old Tom recently?’

“‘Oh yes, Oh yes,’ she replied. ‘Now what else did you see, you old drunk?’

“The husband shook his head. ‘I swear on my life I was sober, my dear. But those cats, they turned to me and they said, clear as day: Tell Tom Tildrum that Tim Toldrum is dead.’”

At that, the robotic Cait Sith jumped up on the workbench, missing arm and all, and said, “WHAT? Old Tim dead!? Then _I’m_ the King of the Cats!”

Daney laughed helplessly as Reeve caught the robot and powered it down. “Sorry,” he said. “Forgot I left him connected.”

“You programmed the punchline of that story into him?” she asked.

“Of course I did. It’s a good way to make sure his parts are in working order.” Reeve carefully peeled back the fur panel along his stomach to check his internal gadgetry. “I do have to admit, your idea for a temperature-sensitive redundancy system has made a world of difference, love.”

“You could probably extend his lifespan immeasurably if he had a companion,” she suggested.

“A companion?” One of his eyebrows quirked up as his hands froze on Cait Sith’s internals. “W-what do you mean?”

“Like, something to ride. He’s not good for long range mobility as he is. But maybe like, a chocobo! Or a big fat moogle!” Daney giggled.

Whatever had momentarily disturbed Reeve seemed to pass, and he laughed. “I don’t know, you talk about _riding,_ maybe what he needs is a queen.”

“Oh shut up,” she said in exasperation, but couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. “I need to get back to testing this articulation.”

They settled into comfortable silence together as they worked, until Reeve broke it by saying, “You know that I love you, right, Daney?”

Reaching across the gap between them, she took his hand, squeezing it softly. “I love you too, Reeve.”

* * *

“Next on Midgar’s Homes and Gardens,” the chipper feminine voice on the television said. “We look at this lovely brownstone in Sector Three.”

“Is it actually lovely?” Reeve called from the kitchen. 

“Not by my standards,” Daney replied, clutching a little plushie Cait Sith against her chest while wrapped in the afghan that graced Reeve’s couch. 

The man in question came in carrying two mugs and offered her one. “Hot chocolate?”

“Ooh!” she snaked both hands out leaving the stuffed animal in her lap as she took the cup. “Yes, please! Did you remember the marshmallows?”

Reeve passed the mug into her hands and laughed. “What kind of boyfriend do you take me for, Miss Van Essen? But oh no, what’s this?” She glanced down at the mug and made an exasperated noise while he giggled. “Another _mysterious_ white paw print!” 

Sure enough, he had put one large marshmallow, and five small ones in the drink, arranged like the paw prints that had been haunting her. “Jokes on you,” Daney said airily. “The paw prints have four toe beans, not five.”

He sat beside her on the couch and leaned close, pulling one of the little marshmallows out of her drink and popping it into his mouth with a grin. “My mistake,” he replied.

“Thief!” She declared, but kissed his cheek affectionately before sipping her drink.

“So,” Reeve asked, focusing on the television. “What’s wrong with this one?”

“Not enough yard,” she said. “Where are the kids supposed to play?”

His smile turned soft. “Kids, huh? Then in that case, Sector Three’s out. The school district isn’t nearly up to par.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Someone needs to tell that Urban Planning guy at Shinra he’s slipping.”

“I’ll send him an email,” Reeve said. “Any school district I should use as an example as a ‘good’ one?”

“Sector One.” 

He scoffed. “Sector One’s only good because it’s mostly younger professionals without kids. So the property taxes are spread over a much smaller number of students. You’d need to convince the middle-aged parents in Sector Three to move to other districts.”

“Sounds like a job for someone in _Urban Planning,”_ Daney teased, then glanced back at the television. “See? It doesn’t even have flower beds near the porch!”

“Your demand sounds rather specific, love. Almost like you have somewhere particular in mind?” His voice lifted slightly as he watched her.

She sipped her hot chocolate as if that could hide her blush. “Maybe.”

“Oh? Tell me!” He leaned closer to her, setting his own drink on the coffee table.

Daney looked away. “No, it’s dumb. Besides, there’s got to be something wrong with it - it’s been on the market for two years and no one has bought it. And you’re not in the market for a house.”

“Maybe not right now,” he said innocently, “but I don’t plan on spending the rest of my life in a penthouse. I would like to have a family some day. You know, the whole shebang - wife, kids - and for that, I need a house.”

Her blush somehow deepened, even though her cheeks already hurt. “A wife?” she croaked.

“Yeah, a wife,” Reeve chuckled. “Isn’t that…” he seemed disquieted again. “I was under the impression that we were both interested in the whole marriage and kids thing.” He watched her out of the corner of his eye, then hastily added, “Eventually. No rush if you’re not, I -”

Pulling Cait Sith closer against her chest, she buried her face in his fur. “I am. Or I wouldn’t be dating a guy a decade older than me. I don’t really have any interest in the whole… ‘dating for fun’ thing. I just want to come home every night to someone who loves me.”

Reeve was quiet for a few minutes, then put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Tell me about the house in Sector One.”

* * *

After her college friend’s birthday party, individual paw prints stopped appearing everywhere Daney went. That isn’t to say they went away.

They got _worse._

The paw prints started to appear in clusters. Two, three, until they were making actual trails, leading her various places she didn’t know existed. The first time she followed them, the little white prints led her to a hole-in-the-wall tea shop, and the woman behind the counter - whom she’d never seen before - gave a friendly wave. “Your order is ready, Miss Van Essen.”

“W-what?” Daney approached the counter to find a to-go cup filled with her favorite: black milk tea with mango stars. “I…” She reached into her purse for her wallet. “How much is it?”

The attendant laughed and pushed the drink into her hands. “Pangur Bán already paid for it.”

“Wait,” she said. “Who’s Pangur Bán?”

The woman winked, but did not answer, just moved on to the next customer.

The next time Daney saw them, she followed them through a back alley to a tiny pocket park behind a warehouse with a large fountain in the center. The noise of the city was far quieter here, and she noticed someone had written a fragment of a poem in chalk on the sidewalk.

_“‘Tis a merry task to see at our tasks how glad are we,  
When at home we sit and find entertainment to our mind.”_

She tried to look it up on the Worldwide Network from her phone, but to her surprise, the only thing she got was a notice that the topic was temporarily censored by the Shinra Company. Daney chewed her lip, and took a picture, before making a note to look again in a few weeks.

* * *

The afternoon of the Midgar Founder’s festival, Daney was having a time of it. She was _supposed_ to meet Reeve for dinner in his office in twenty minutes, but it seemed she just couldn’t get it together. With a frustrated shriek she gave up and left her hair down, running a brush through it and grabbing her purse as she rushed out the door.

Compounding the problem, a Shinra truck was parked in front of her driveway, blocking her car in. She wanted to rush over and demand they move, but after everything else that had happened today, she didn’t feel like she had the ability to deal with people. 

Reeve didn’t count, of course. He was Reeve, which was far better than people. 

As Daney rushed down the street toward the train station, she saw them again - a trail of white paw prints leading down a different way. She wanted to follow, she did, but she wanted to see Reeve more. Her eyes moved along the trail and she froze in the middle of the sidewalk with what she found at its end. An animatronic cat, like Cait Sith, but with all-white fur that shone brightly in the afternoon sunlight, just as the paw prints had.

Her heart in her throat, she dug her phone out of her purse and took a picture of the cat and the paw prints, then sent it to Reeve. 

**Daney:** Are *you* behind this?

**Reeve:** I wonder where she will lead you. 

**Daney:** I knew it. I guess I’m going to be late.

**Reeve:** You know I’ll wait all night if I have to.

The cat began to scamper away, and Daney threw her phone in her purse, chasing after it. She followed the creature through back alleys and byways - past the pocket park and the tea shop, to the house in Sector One she loved. 

Her surprise gave way to comprehension when she saw the “For Sale” sign now had a bright red “SOLD” sticker across the center, and felt no compunction walking through the open front door after the white cat. 

It paused in the hall, making sure she was following, then continued on, padding softly as it ran through the dining room and kitchen and out into the backyard. Daney continued to chase after it through the open back gate into the alleyway behind the house, her breath coming fast. Reeve was behind all of this, and he had bought the house. 

Daney wasn’t sure she was ready to give voice to what that meant, but she wasn’t sure she had too long to consider it, either.

She followed the cat past the festival, past the shops closing for the day, toward the scaffolding at the edge of the Plate, and watched as the white cat circled a cement pillar near the under-construction branch Midgar Highway. When she came close, it began to scamper up the ladder, and she tightened her purse strap across her chest and followed, ignoring the way the wind this high up tugged at her goldenrod sundress and tangled her hair. Though Daney might have been frightened by the climb, she was more afraid of not finding out what was at the other end of this adventure. 

When she reached the platform watched as the little white cat ran along the scaffolding to a giant white moogle, hopping up its back to sit beside Cait Sith and watch the sunset. Beside them was the construction elevator to go to the top.

Daney stepped nervously into the elevator, looking around for a button or lever when she noticed a hard hat with a sticky-note attached hanging on the wall. 

_Safety First!_

_-R_

She pulled it onto her head and tucked the note into her purse as the elevator started to rise on its own, taking her up to the empty construction site.

Reeve was there, sitting at the far end of the scaffolding, and smiled over his shoulder at her. “Come sit with me, love.”

With careful steps Daney moved along the boards and took a seat on the I-beam beside him, ducking her head so that her dark hair could hide her growing blush. “You were the one behind the paw prints.”

“I was,” he confessed, holding out her favorite tea, the motion making the little yellow stars dance in the milky drink. She took it from him, even though her hands shook so bad she thought she might drop it, and she sipped the drink in silence while she watched the sun set.

“You bought the house in Sector One.” It wasn’t a question.

He still answered. “I did.”

“Why?” Her voice was barely a whisper, and Daney couldn’t look at him, instead focusing on the brilliant oranges and pinks and golds as the sun set over the rocky desert that surrounded Midgar.

“I realized you were right,” he admitted, taking a drink of his coffee. “Cait Sith needed a companion, and so did I.”

“N-no, I mean…” her heart was fit to burst with how it was pounding in her chest. “Why me?”

“Do you know the story of Pangur Bán?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Long ago, back before printing presses, when books had to be transcribed by hand, a monk who did that transcribing added a poem about his cat to the book he was working on. The cat’s name was Pangur Bán, and the poem is about the delight of companionship.” From the corner of her eye, Daney could see that Reeve’s hands were shaking, too. “He talks about how, though he and Pangur work on different tasks, and seem to often have separate lives, they both find delight in their work, and find comfort in just having the other near, another soul that seeks the same ultimate goal of a happy, quiet life together.”

Reeve sighed, and rubbed his face with his free hand. “I can’t promise any of this will be easy, or that I’ll even always be there to help with the day-to-day minutiae of our family, but these last months…” he swallowed. “There isn’t anyone else I want beside me on this journey, wherever it takes us. So let Cait Sith have his Pangur Bán, and let _me_ have _you.”_

Daney tried, but she couldn’t stop the tears welling up in her eyes, and she set the tea down so she could bury her face in her hands as she cried.

“I will admit,” Reeve said, placing a gentle hand on her back, “I didn’t predict sobbing as a reaction to this proposal.”

Swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, she said, “Daney is problemed.”

“What’s the problem?” he murmured, kissing her temple. “How can I help?”

“I’m going to have to talk to _Scarlet_ at company events!” Daney wailed.

Reeve laughed, light and boyishly before tipping up the front of her hard hat and kissing her until night had claimed everything.


End file.
